Qin Mi 秦宓

Qin Mi, courtesy name Zichi, was a man of Mianzhu County in Guanghan Commandery. From his youth he had talent and learning, and the province and the commandery summoned him, but each time he pleaded illness and did not go. He submitted a memorandum to the Governor Liu Yan recommending the Confucian scholar Ren An, saying that in selecting men and employing the able one is not bound by age, and that the recluse Ren An, for his benevolence, righteousness and upright way, was known far in every direction, so that if he were recommended the whole province would submit. Records, Shu 8 §35 · 37

In the time of Liu Zhang, Wang Shang (王商), a man of the same commandery, became Headquarters Attendant Officer and sent him a letter asking how long he could spend his whole life in poverty and hardship, and urging him to come once and meet the head of the province. In his reply Qin Mi cited the examples of Xu You, who washed both his ears though Emperor Yao treated him generously, and Zhuang Zhou, who held on to his fishing rod and did not look round when Chu invited him. He then said that he warmed his back in the sun among the fields, taking a body at ease as his joy and freedom from care as his blessing, so that this was precisely the time when he had achieved his aims. Records, Shu 8 §39–41

Later, when Wang Shang built a shrine for Yan Junping and Li Hong, Qin Mi wrote to him, finding it strange that he had left out Yang Xiong, who had devoted himself to writing and benefited the world. He also said that Shu originally had no scholars, but Wen Weng sent Sima Xiangru east to study the Seven Classics and come back to teach the officials and the people, so that the learning of Shu came to rival that of Qi and Lu; he urged that a shrine be built for Xiangru as well and that its inscription be settled without delay. Records, Shu 8 §41–43

Before this, when Li Quan wished to borrow the Strategies of the Warring States, Qin Mi replied that the book repeated the stratagems of Zhang Yi and Su Qin of the Warring States period, killing others to save oneself and ruining others to preserve oneself, which the classics abhor, and that a gentleman, though widely learned, does not look at what is contrary to propriety. When someone asked why, comparing himself to the ancient recluses Chao Fu and Xu You and the Four Whitebeards, he displayed his literary talent, he answered that a tiger is born with bright stripes and a phoenix is born with five colours by their inborn nature, and that if a gentleman prizes the virtue of letters, what harm is there in literary grace? Records, Shu 8 §44–48

Peng Yang of the same commandery was arrogant by nature and often looked down on others, but he respected Qin Mi alone and recommended him to the Administrator Xu Jing. Peng Yang said that the recluse Qin Mi of Mianzhu pillowed his head on stones, rinsed his mouth in flowing water and recited poems in a worn cotton robe, and that even the reclusion of the ancients could not surpass this. Records, Shu 10 §19–20

After Liu Bei pacified Yi Province, Xiahou Zuan, Administrator of Guanghan, invited Qin Mi to be his Libationer Teacher-Friend, concurrently Officer of the Five Bureaus, and called him 'Uncle' (zhongfu). When Qin Mi pleaded illness and lay at home, Xiahou Zuan brought his Officer of Merit Gu Pu and his Registrar, laid out food and held a feast at his house, but Qin Mi still lay in bed. When Xiahou Zuan asked how the scholars of this region compared with those of other provinces, Gu Pu cited Yan Junping's Zhigui, Yang Xiong's Taixuan and Fayan, and the text on the feng and shan sacrifices composed by Sima Xiangru. Records, Shu 8 §49–50

When Xiahou Zuan asked what Uncle thought, Qin Mi tapped his cheek with his tablet, asked him not to lend the title of Uncle to him, and set out the fundamental history of the region. A river flows out of Mount Wenfu in Shu and the fertile plain stretches for a thousand li; Yu was born at Shiniu, which is now Wenshan Commandery, and he opened the Yangtze and cleared the Yellow River, removing the harm to the people; and the mouth of the valley from which the Three Sovereigns came forth riding the earth-spirit carriage is the present Xie Valley. Then he asked in turn how this compared with the rest of the realm. Xiahou Zuan hesitated and could make no further reply. Records, Shu 8 §51–53

Yi Province summoned Qin Mi and made him Libationer Attendant Officer. After Liu Bei ascended the imperial throne and was about to attack Wu in the east, Qin Mi advised that the timing of Heaven would surely not be favourable, and for this he was thrown into prison; afterwards he was pardoned and released. In the 2nd year of Jianxing (224), when the Chancellor Zhuge Liang concurrently held the post of Governor of Yi Province and selected and welcomed men of long-standing virtue, he made Qin Mi Attendant Officer with Separate Carriage, and soon appointed him General of the Household of the Left and Colonel of the Changshui. Records, Shu 8 §54Records, Shu 12 §3

When Wu sent the envoy Zhang Wen on a courtesy visit, all the officials went to see him off; everyone had gathered but Qin Mi had not come, and Zhuge Liang sent messengers several times to hurry him. When Zhang Wen asked what kind of man he was, Zhuge Liang answered that he was a scholar of Yi Province. When Zhang Wen asked whether he studied, Qin Mi said that even children five chi tall all study, so why only he? When Zhang Wen asked in turn whether Heaven had a head, ears and feet, Qin Mi cited lines of the Book of Songs to show that it had them all, and said that its head was in the west. Asked Heaven's surname, he said it was Liu, because the Son of Heaven's surname was Liu; to the question whether the sun did not rise in the east, he answered that it rose in the east but set in the west. Records, Shu 8 §54–56

Because he answered every question at once, like an echo, Zhang Wen was filled with great respect and admiration. Qin Mi was transferred to Minister of Agriculture and died in the 4th year of Jianxing (226). Having once seen that the Genealogy of the Emperors said that the Five Emperors were all of the same clan, he argued the grounds on which this was not so, and he also discussed the theories of the August Ones, Emperors, Kings and Hegemons and of the rearing of dragons, very cogently. Qiao Zhou, when young, visited him many times to consult him and recorded his words in the Chunqiu Ranfou Lun. Records, Shu 8 §57

In his assessment, Chen Shou wrote that Qin Mi at first admired the loftiness of living in retirement but lacked the substance of one who only seems foolish, yet his ability to answer on his own was ample and his literary grace was grand and beautiful, so that he could be called a man of talent of his age. Records, Shu 8 §59